


I'll Tell the Jealous Sky That You're Mine

by arrowinthesky (restfulsky5)



Series: Where We Were Born [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance, Shore Leave, Singing!Jim, jim's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 17:51:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6998476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/restfulsky5/pseuds/arrowinthesky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Early on, Leonard learns three things on Jim's birthday. One, Jim gets drunk. Two, Leonard has to be prepared for anything. Three, Jim gets drunk.</p><p>Who knew that this year he'd learn a fourth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Tell the Jealous Sky That You're Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: fluff ahead. Lots of pure fluff. The reason I wrote this story? Fluff with a side of h/c.
> 
> The title was partially inspired by Sting's "Fields of Gold." I love Eva Cassidy's rendition. Story inspired by a recent selfie-like photo of CP and KU.
> 
> I am working on the next chapter of And If I Stand. I hope to have that up within two weeks. Thank you for your patience. I might have a surprise in the works, too. ;)
> 
> Meanwhile, here is a little ficlet. Thank you, Diamondblue4, for the beta! 
> 
> Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Leonard sips his water, amusedly listening to the croonings of a drunk James T. Kirk behind him.

_“There’s a saying that love is blind…”_

Leonard chuckles to himself. Sinatra. When it comes right down to it, Jim is a hopeless romantic. He also had a good voice but didn't usually sing until he'd had a few drinks, like now. Luckily for Leonard, he’s sober enough to really enjoy it for once.

_“I’m going to see a certain lad I’ve had in mind…”_

“So,” Uhura says, setting her drink down on the counter. She clears her throat before glancing sideways at him. “Now is a good as time as any to get a holo taken with Jim.”

“Two things you’re forgetting,” Leonard deadpans. “I hate the holobooth and…” He inclines his head behind him, where said captain stood unsteadily lifting his glass high in the air.

“ _Someone to watch over_....Hey, ev’ryone, I’m drunk!” Jim announces to no one in particular. “Very...drunk.”

Quirking a brow, Leonard turns back to Uhura. “So, ya sure about that?”

She smirks. “No. But, it’ll only go downhill from here.”

“Don’t remind me.” Leonard says under his breath.

“Aye, laddie, you are drunk,” Scotty cackles loudly from a barstool down the row. “An’ we aren’t far behind you.”

Jim hiccups and raises his glass higher. “To...one more night...off the...” he slurs, wavering on his feet. “Off the...beau’ful…uh…” He scrunches his face like he’s searching for the right word. “Uh...ship?”

Leonard holds his breath. If anyone mentions that it wasn't just the last day of shore leave but Jim’s birthday, too, he'd chew them a new one.

“Aye, Captain!”

“Cheers,” Uhura calls back.

The others join in and as the good-natured calls continue, Leonard sighs in relief that a crisis was avoided.

“And here’s to...to...to….” Jim raises his glass again and bends at his waist. He bows awkwardly - and promptly dumps the rest of his drink out on the floor.

Leonard groans and puts his head in his hands.

Jim lifts his glass and starts to take a drink, but pauses. “Fuck that.” He lowers the empty glass and stares into it in confusion. “Thought ‘had more.”

Leonard straightens and watches him with chagrin. This wasn’t the first mess the captain had made at this particular establishment since they’d arrived. In fact, he’d been following Jim around like a nursemaid for days. The only place he hadn't had to follow Jim into was the wretched holobooth.

Leonard counts his lucky stars. He doesn't want any of memories of this crazy shore leave popping up later. Especially any holo of him - or Jim. The bridge crew was notoriously known for using those as blackmail.

Uhura spins on her stool at the bar and cocks her head, looking down at Jim with a piteous expression. “I think someone needs to go home and be put to bed.”

“That’s my cue,” Leonard says. He slips off his barstool.

“Aw,” she whispers when Jim nods enthusiastically, “Look how adorable he looks, Leo, needing you to take him home. Don’t forget to tuck him in.”

Jim smiles widely. “If he doesn’t, ‘hura, then you-”

Leonard quickly pulls him up by the arms. “Don’t think Spock would appreciate ya sayin’ that.”

He manhandles him toward the exit, Jim’s jerky arm movements getting in the way.

Leonard sighs. “Come on, Jimbo.”

“But…changed my mind,” Jim whines. “Bo-onesy, jus’ started. An’ haven't had my holo taken yet.”

“You started hours ago. Let’s go, Jim,” Leonard says quietly. “You can have Uhura take your picture later.”

The glass slips from Jim’s hand and shatters on the floor.

“God help me,” Leonard says as he stares at the broken glass. “What other ship has a captain who is in desperate need of a babysitter.”

A collective snicker sounds from behind him.

He turns around and narrows his eyes at the row of officers sitting at the bar. Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu stare back innocently.

“And I don’t mean that as a question,” he barks.

“Ours,” Sulu says and grins from the bar, almost as drunk.

“Aye, ours,” Scotty chimes, rocking on his seat. He suddenly teeters back. Chekov grabs his arm to keep him from falling just in time.

Leonard shakes his head at them. “Uhura, make sure the boys come back in one piece,” he says. Then turning to Jim, says. “Come on, kid, time to go.”

They take one step - one damn step - and somehow, Jim trips over his own feet.

He nearly crashes into a Tellerite.

Then a Caitian.

He gives a low whistle, placing Jim's arm over his shoulders to support him better. “Steady there, Captain.”

This was going to be more of a challenge than he’d first thought. He clutches Jim tighter, maneuvering him around the crowd. After a few seconds of shuffling forward, Jim slowly turns his head and stares at Leonard as if surprised to see him.

“Bones! Glad you came!” His grin is loose and sloppy.

"Ya gotta be kiddin' me," Leonard mutters. He waves his hand carelessly. “Yeah, yeah.”

Jim wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Leonard eyes it warily, not wanting to even think of all the slobber coating it now.

“It’s never fun without you, Bonesy,” Jim slurs.

Leonard looks grimly at him. “I’ve been here before you even had your first shot. Keeping my eye on ya.”

He doesn’t say why he wasn’t drinking. Or just watching. Nothing good would come out of reminding Jim that shore leave had happened to fall on his birthday.

Jim’s eyes manage to grow wider. “Shot at what? I swear, Bonesy,” he pauses, casually patting him on the shoulder. “I’ve kept my eyes and hands inside the vehicle at all times.”

Leonard turns around to make sure the crew hadn’t heard that - right as Sulu groans from behind him.

Uhura snorts Cardassian Sunrise out of her nose.

“Do us all a favor, Jim,” Leonard says dryly. “Don’t try to explain yourself.”

“Some shore leave, huh?” Sulu asks, slipping off his stool. He comes over and takes Jim’s other arm, placing it over his shoulder. “I don’t remember ever seeing him trashed like this before. For three whole days?”

“I think Spock had a good idea,” Leonard groused. “Staying on the ship and away from the chaos called Jim Kirk.”

Jim hiccups as soon as he rests his head on Sulu’s shoulder. “Bones, you’re a li’l...frail,” he says, running a hand up and down Sulu’s arm. “But it’s really nice, ‘ones. Yep. Frail.”

Leonard's brow twitches in amusement. “Is that so?”

“Hey,” Sulu objects. He frowns when Jim’s face is nearly touching his. “God, Kirk, your breath stinks.”

Nose wrinkled, he carefully guides Jim’s head to rest on Leonard’s shoulder, instead.

Leonard rolls his eyes. “Gee, thanks, Sulu.”

“No problem.”

“It’s called...drunk-end-Ned-ness,” Jim whispers. He sighs loudly. “And I got it.”

“Drunkedness,” Leonard clarifies.

“Exactly what I said, Fred,” Jim says, grin stretching from ear to ear. He blinks and stops suddenly, trying to twist his torso around, no doubt to head back to the bar.

“Oh, no ya don't,” Leonard says, guiding him back toward the exit.

“But I need another drunk.” Jim furrows his brow. “Drink. I mean drink. I didn’t touch a drunk. I need a…God, I do need a drunk. I need something. Someone. Maybe you, Bonesy."

Jim leans over and grabs Leonard’s face. Before he could pull away, Jim’s slobbery, foul-smelling tongue slides over his cheek and then onto his mouth.

Even though it was Jim kissing him - _Jim was kissing him_ \- Leonard averts his face from the slobbering captain.

“Gah,” he says, grimacing. He pulls away, wiping at the dribble. “That could use a little work, even for you.”

“Oh, you love it," Jim whispers in his ear. “You lo-ove it,” he continues in a lilting voice.

“Oh, brother,” Leonard mutters.

“You love our first kiss, Bo-onesy,” he croons. “Lo-ooove it.”

“Jim, that's enough,” Leonard says with a huff.

Jim shakes his head and sings louder, smiling with his eyes shut. “You lo-ove it! Our first KI-ISS!”

“Jim, no.” Leonard’s heart pounds erratically.

“Lo-ove IT…”

Leonard begins to sweat. “No, Jim. I swear to God, if you don’t -”

“You lo-OVE IT!”

“Jim, I swear. If you don’t -”

“YOU LOVE OUR FIRST KISS!”

Everything in the room stops.

Several bar stools creak in the hushed silence. Every single head, alien and human, turns to look back at the very vocal blonde.

Leonard blinks several times. And realizes just how loud Jim had been. That they are absolutely, positively the center of attention.

That it had been a first kiss.

That it had been welcome on his part, Jim's bad breath aside.

And that Jim’s face just fell.

That his eyes were filling with tears.

Oh, shit.

Leonard knows that look.

The way Jim’s eyes were filling with more pain than Leonard had the ability to cure.

He knew that, too.

Shit shit shit.

Jim sniffs. “‘ones’?”

Leonard does the only thing he knows to do in this type of situation.

He runs.

He manhandles Jim to the right, pushing him into the damn holobooth.

“Oof, Bones?!” Jim exclaims when he's shoved inside.

Leonard quickly shuts the door behind him. It's a tight fit, but he pushes down on Jim’s shoulders forcing him to take a seat on the small bench.

Jim stares down gloomily at his hands on his lap.

Leonard wants to ask him why he'd kissed him but he doesn't.

“My dad, Bones,” Jim whispers in a small voice.

Leonard squeezes in beside him. Draping his arm around his shoulders, he holds him close.

“I know, Jim,” he says.

“I hate crying,” Jim slurs, sliding his arm across his snotty nose.

“I know,” he murmurs.

“I hate my birthday. I hate that I make you clean up after me. I hate that I -” He cuts off a sob. Sniffs once. Curves his shoulders inward. “N-never mind.”

“Then let's make this the best birthday ya ever had,” he says.

Jim shakes his head. “No, no,” he says with a hiccup. “Nothin’ works. You know that, Bones.”

“Let me try, just this once,” he says softly. “I promise I’ll make it better.”

Jim looks at him in confusion. “How?”

Leonard glances up at the screen. “This is how.”

Before giving him time to think, Leonard smiles just for Jim and clicks the remote control to the holobooth that he held in his hand.

Jim blinks at him. “Did you just…?”

Leonard puts two fingers up behind Jim's head to form a "V" and clicks the button again.

Jim’s mouth falls open. “Hey!” he exclaims when he sees the image in the screen.

Leonard chuckles and clicks again.

He makes a face and clicks just as Jim is gaping.

Jim peers into the screen like it’s a fascination. Smirking beside him, Leonard takes another shot. Jim actually laughs when the holo of them appears. It does look ridiculous. They look like adolescents.

They need another photo like this, he thinks, and this time, it’s Jim who makes a face.

Leonard’s heart beats faster as the light ring of Jim’s drunken laughter fills the small booth. The blonde is still laughing - and also distracted - when Leonard stops what he is doing and presses a chaste kiss to his cheek.

Jim’s breath hitches. “Bones?” he asks, voice quaking.

Leonard grasps his chin and turns his face toward him. Jim’s eyes are brilliant and wide and hopeful.

“Happy Birthday, Jim,” Leonard says.

He claims Jim’s mouth for his own, savoring everything about it, even the alcohol on his lips. It’s a little messy, but the sweetness of it makes him kiss him again.

They don't leave the holobooth for well over half an hour.

One week later, he sets the holo of their third real kiss on their nightstand. It's the last thing he sees when he falls asleep. And the second thing he sees in the morning.

The first thing he sees? The face of the man he'd do absolutely anything for.

Even step into a holobooth, only to lose most of the embarrassing holos he took to one, sneaky communications officer.

Or, he thinks as Jim’s warm body nestles against him, even follow him past every star in the sky.


End file.
